growing up
by not a straight trumpet
Summary: It's late, as it often is when these conversations occur, and the concept of adulthood is hard to grasp, as it always is when you're a teenager in the middle of living your life.


**a/n:** i don't know how i have writer's block in the midst of the season of the show i've been writing fic for during a hiatus that lasted over a year but the writer's block is Here and it's terrible so here's this very short fic while i try to get more inspiration

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The futon wasn't quite warm enough, Kumiko soon realized. The air conditioner blew a cold breeze through the room, and she nestled deeper into the blankets. She had been able to ignore it well enough the previous night - she had been worn out enough to fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow - but tonight she was restless and shaky, shifting back and forth as she tried to sleep.

"Kumiko?" Kumiko stiffened at the voice.

"Y-yeah, Reina?"

"Are you having trouble sleeping, too?" Kumiko nodded.

"It's too cold in here," she said.

"There isn't anything else bothering you?" Reina said the words with a light hum, as if she was expecting one exact response and nothing else.

"W-well, I guess I'm kinda . . . overwhelmed, by all of the stuff with the senpais and the lingering band drama from earlier and all of that." Kumiko looked up at the ceiling, dark and foreboding over her. "I dunno how I ended up getting caught in it all, it's really none of my business, b-but . . . now I am." She shifted again, turning to face Reina. "What if we end up like them?" she murmured.

"Like who?" Kumiko shrugged the best she could in her current situation.

"Like all of them, I guess. Mizore's always on the brink of snapping, Nozomi's _begging_ to be let back into the club, and Asuka . . . she's, uh, she's just a jerk."

"She has a point, though. If Nozomi truly wanted to be let back into the club, she should've swallowed her pride and simply gone to Taki-sensei for a form."

"You don't know Asuka that well. She has that effect on people, y'know? Everyone wants to impress her, I sorta get where Nozomi's coming from."

"It doesn't seem like she's trying to impress her as much as she hates her."

"Anyway, I guess you're probably better at this than me. You're always really, uh, level-headed in these kinds of things, but somehow I'm the one who ends up sorting out stuff between people I hardly know."

"It's terrible, really," Reina lightly teased. "I suppose you'd want to switch, then? I'll deal with the inner workings of the band drama, while you helplessly follow around a teacher who won't notice you, burdened with expectations while everyone you know and love says that you look like a grown-up even when you're still just a child?" Kumiko froze. Reina looked away, her movements stiff and robotic.

"Reina, I'm s-sorry, I didn't mean to-" Reina wove her away with a flip of her pale hand.

"It's fine." Reina burrowed further back into her futon, so that Kumiko could only see the top of her face sticking out. "That's what these conversations are for, isn't it?" Kumiko could only squeeze her hand in sympathy.

"Well, for starters, I doubt that I'd ever fall for Taki-sensei." Reina raised an eyebrow.

"Why not?"

"Niiyama-sensei's really pretty," Kumiko mumbled.

"You mean . . . ?"

"Yeah." She was just about ready to let the futon swallow her up, the words seeming to echo around the room that was silent save for the two girls whispering and the hum of the air conditioning. "It's, uh, not really a big deal, I sorta figured that you already knew."

"I did."

"Oh." Another period of quiet arose, thick and choking as Kumiko racked her brain for something to say next. "You don't have to grow up all that fast, y'know." Reina blinked, her violet eyes bright and nearly cat-like in the dark. "We're both still kids, Reina, you're just really mature for your age." Kumiko inched closer. "It doesn't mean that we can't still goof off sometimes. We're still kids. I think that if there's any message we should be getting from the senpais, it's that we shouldn't take this time for granted."

"You're beginning to sound like me."

"I guess I am." Both girls laughed, sides heaving in the darkness of the room and the trappings of the futons. "Pretty _terrible,_ eh?" Reina promptly elbowed her. "Anyway, we should try to sleep. _Try,_ anyway, I dunno how much we'll actually get to sleep." Kumiko didn't comment when Reina held her hand, keeping it that way as the night went on until they had both drifted away into dreamland.


End file.
